MovieFinder requires no installation and runs on
ANY operating system (the same exact file). The 'installation'
you experience when downloading MovieFinder is an automated
extraction. The file MovieFinder.jar is the actual
program, and requires no installation.

What it does require, is for your computer to
have the Java Standard Edition installed and up to
date (Java SE 6 or greater is required), and a minimum resolution of 1024x768. You may update your computer by visiting
www.java.com and installing
the appropriate update.

The file Install_MovieFinder.jar is an executable
standalone Java application. It will extract MovieFinder files
to a location dependent on your Operating System. Specific OS
details are detailed below.

The installation places MovieFinder.jar
in a folder named MovieFinder.
MovieFinder creates/uses one data file in
the directory it resides in (MovieFinder.dat). This is your
movie database / library file. By default, any cover image files used by
MovieFinder will be downloaded into the cover images subdirectory.

MovieFinder supports multiple users / multiple
libraries. Registration of MovieFinder is machine-wide.
MovieFinder settings (preferences)
are user account specific. By default, all users share a common library. If you wish different users to have
different libraries, simply copy the MovieFinder.jar file to a
new folder for each respective user. Passwords are associated with the
library, not the user. Organization of multiple user folders is up to
the administrator/users.

Double click on Install_MovieFinder.jar.
MovieFinder will typically exract to 'C:\Program
Files\MovieFinder', and will place shortcuts on the Desktop and
the Start Menu. You may delete Install_MovieFinder.jar/zip
after installation is complete.

If you need to update your computer, install the
latest version of Java for Windows.

If you double-click on the file and you're asked to choose a program to open it with or you can
"see inside it" (you see several .class files and
subfolders), then you have a conflict with a file-browsing
or archiving program (such as PowerDesk). It is recommended
that you uninstall Java from your computer and then install the
latest update. If the problem persists, you can either
uninstall the conflicting program or manually associate .jar
files to run the appropriate program:

Manual .jar association: right click the
.jar file, choose 'Open with -> Choose
Program...', browse to the file javaw.exe residing in
the Java bin directory (variant of C:\Program
Files\Java\jre1.6.x_xx\bin\). Be sure to click the 'Always
use this program to open this type of file' box. Click OK to
finish.

If MovieFInder is installed from a limited permissions user account, shortcuts will only be created on that user's account.

After downloading Install_MovieFinder.zip, extract its
contents to your Desktop.

Double click on Install_MovieFinder.jar.
By default, this will extract MovieFinder to the path
/Applications/MovieFinder/.

To run MovieFinder, double click on
MovieFinder.jar in your chosen install path or the MovieFinder alias icon if you installed to /Applications/MovieFinder.

If you need to
update your computer, install the latest version of Java for Mac
OS X. (Download the latest Java Runtime Environment here).

Java Notes for OS X 10.4 and below:

Simply put, MovieFinder 2.1 and all future versions of MovieFinder are NOT compatible with OS X 10.4 and below.

Apple has once again elected to drop support for Java updates. There is no official Apple Update that will install Java SE 6 on OS X 10.4 and below. (MovieFinder 2.0 experienced this very issue in 2007 when Tiger did not yet support Java SE 5.) For unknown reasons, Apple lags the rest of the computer world by about 2 years when it comes to Java. [Java 6 became the default Java SE in 2007! Java 7 will be released sometime in 2010. Apple is THAT far behind!]

Alternatively, don't forget that MovieFinder is portable! You can keep your library on a thumbdrive and use guest computers (such as your Windows computer at work) until you upgrade your Mac's OS.

Please accept our apology for this inconvenience. Your understanding of our committment to evolve MovieFinder is very much appreciated.

Advanced, technically savvy users may be able utilize this workaround:

A not-so-simple but free method of implementing Java 6 on OS X 10.4 is detailed here. This may or may not be beyond your tinkering-with-the-OS comfort level. Note the link for the video tutorial.

An alternative article more or less accomplishing the same thing is found here.

Note that these workarounds have not been tested, and naturally, the risk of implementing them is your own.

Updating your OS will no doubt be easier!

Java Notes for OS X 10.5:

Even after you have updated the version of Java
on your Mac to Java 6 or greater, you will still get the same error
telling you that you need to update Java. This is because older Mac OS
X versions retain Java 5 as the default until you manually set Java 6 as the default. We agree that this is really annoying.

Open Applications->Utilities->Java--->Java Preferences. You should set the settings to
match those shown below. Each user will have to do this (sorry.... Apple
doesn't support Java as well as they claim to ):

Extract the contents of Install_MovieFinder.zip to the
location of your choice.

If you need to update your computer, install the
latest version of Java for Windows.

Depending on your OS, double clicking on
Install_MovieFinder.jar may have no meaning. If this is the case you
will have to run MovieFinder from a terminal.

From the console, cd to where you extracted
the .zip file and type 'java -jar Install_MovieFinder.jar'. This executes
the installer.

By default, a MovieFinder folder will be created
in your user home directory. In the folder will be two
files, MovieFinder.jar and two .png icon files.
The .png files may be used to create an icon for a shortcut
if you so desire.

To run MovieFinder, either double click MovieFinder.jar or cd to the MovieFinder
folder and type 'java -jar MovieFinder.jar'.